CHICKEN KIEV OLE

This is a childhood favorite dish that Matt requested.  I hadn't made it in years, having moved on to actually making my own sauces.  The recipe was in an ad for Smucker's tomato preserves, which they stopped making years ago.  I searched the internet until I found something that I thought was similar, and ended up with this:

"La vieja Fabrica" imported from Spain.  It tastes even better than the Smucker's.  And, of course, Newman's Own has been around all along.  So this is a very simple recipe,  that produces a tangy but not really spicy dish.

4 oz unsalted butter, softened

½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 pkg taco seasoning

3 large chicken breasts (preferably organic)

1 12 oz jar tomato preserves

12 oz mild salsa (such as Newman’s Own)

4 oz pitted black olives

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Blend butter, taco seasoning and ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese, then divide into 6 pieces, shaping them into a small log.  Put them in the freezer while you cut and pound the chicken.

You want the chicken breasts to be thin enough to cook easily, so slice chicken breasts in half so they open like a book, then complete the cut.  Tenderize between two pieces of waxed paper or plastic wrap, pounding them to about ¼-inch thick. You will have 6 pieces.

Wrap chicken around frozen butter mixture, and secure with a toothpick.  Place them in a baking dish.

Place the tomato preserves in a small saucepan and heat until the gelatin melts.  Stir in the salsa and pour over chicken breasts.  Scatter olives around them.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and sprinkle 1 cup shredded cheddar over the chicken.  Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese has melted.

Excellent over rice.

Serves 6.

PEANUT BUTTER MUNCHIES

My friend found this recipe in Better Homes and Gardens a few years ago and they really satisfy that "Reese's Peanut Butter cup craving" that I get from time to time.  I have tweaked them a bit, increasing the quantities used for the peanut butter filling to get a better ratio, and rolling the balls of dough in sugar to give them a crispier outside.  They're fun to make and disappear quickly around here.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup double dutch cocoa powder (or any good cocoa powder)

½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoons salt

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup smooth peanut butter

1 egg

1 Tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sifted powder sugar

¾ cup peanut butter

Granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together into a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat together butter, the ½ cup of granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the ¼ cup of peanut butter until well combined.

Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well.  

Beat in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with the mixer.

Stir in remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon.  Form chocolate dough into 26 balls about 1 ¼ inch in diameter (I used a #40 cookie scoop).

For peanut butter filling, in a medium bowl sift powdered sugar onto the ¾ cup peanut butter and stir until smooth

Shape mixture into 26 ¾-inch balls (I used a #100 cookie scoop).

Slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball.

Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling.  Roll the dough into a ball.  Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter balls.

Roll the dough into a ball and roll in sugar.  Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter balls.  Place balls 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar to keep it from sticking to the cookies.

Bake in preheated oven for 9 or 10 minutes or until they’re set and surface is slightly cracked.  Let cookies stand for 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

Makes 26 cookies.

ENCHILADAS SUISSAS

Meat from 1 rotisserie chicken

1 4oz can chopped mild chiles

4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

8 flour tortillas

2 cups heavy cream

Canola oil for cooking

Preheat oven to 375ºF. 

Pull the chicken meat into bite-sized shreds and place them in a mixing bowl.

Mix in the chopped chiles 

and a hand-full of the cheese.  This is your filling.

Heat about ¼ cup of canola oil in a frying pan big enough to fit the tortillas.  Pour about 1 cup of cream into a pie plate.  The cream is important here, because when you bake the enchiladas it combines with the shredded Jack cheese to make a really delicious sauce.

When the oil is hot, place a tortilla in the oil, about 15 seconds per side or until they soften and puff up,

and then immediately dip both sides in the cream.

Place the softened and dipped tortillas into a large casserole or individual casseroles, depending on how you plan to serve them.  (Note:  I usually put as many of them as I plan to serve immediately into a casserole, then the remaining ones in individual casseroles so I can either freeze or refrigerate them for later.)  Divide the filling among the tortillas (they should be fairly full),  then sprinkle a little more cheese on top of the filling before folding them.

Roll them into the traditional enchilada shape,

then pour the remaining cream in the pie pan as well as the reserved cream over the enchiladas, taking care to moisten all of the tortillas that are showing.

Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes, and serve warm with tomatillo salsa.

Makes 8 servings.

GIANT PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

 

If you love peanut butter and peanuts, these are your cookie.  The original recipe also had a chocolate ganache filling, but that was really just too much.  They're super easy to make, and like most cookies, freeze well.  

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter (best with organic peanut butter)

8 oz unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups minus 1 Tbsp sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla

2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda’3/4 tsp salt

6 oz dry-roasted unsalted nuts

Sugar for sprinkling (either table sugar or sanding sugar)

Preheat oven to 375ºF. 

Using an electric mixer, cream together the peanut butter and butter. Add the sugar and cream for 1 minute on medium speed.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla.  

Either sift together the flour, baking soda and salt or aerate them with a whisk.  Then add the flour mixture all at once to the butter-peanut butter mixture.  Mix until the flour is incorporated.  Stir in the peanuts.

Scoop the dough, about ¼ cups for each, onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, allowing plenty of room (I usually get 6 per sheet).  The recipe calls for you to press down lightly with a large fork in two directions to get a cross, flattening the dough slightly.  However, I find that my potato masher works even better.  

Be sure to keep dipping the fork or masher in sugar so they don't stick to the cookie dough. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 12 minutes, turning the pan half-way.  Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheets.  The cookies will be very soft, but as they cool they will firm up somewhat, though they will still be soft.

Makes about 18 cookies.